August 26/01 4:49 am - Mont Ste Anne World Cup: Lap Reports

Posted by Editoress on 08/26/01

Mont Ste Anne World Cup Lap Reports

Women10:40am

The Pro women have just started. They have a short start loop (1.2km) and then 6 laps of the 5.2 km course. At the start it was Chrissy Redden, Alison Sydor, Anabella Stopparo and Alison Dunlap at the front. As they finished the start loop and headed out onto the course for lap 1, Caroline Alexander had moved to the front followed by Barb Blatter, Redden, Stopparo and Sydor.

Two thirds of the way through lap 1, Chrissy Redden has taken an early lead. She has a 6 second gap on Barb Blatter and Caroline Alexander. Then it is Alison Sydor at 10 seconds, Stopparo at 25 seconds and then Sabine Spitz, Alison Dunlap, Marie-Helene Premont and Kiara Bisaro

11:25- Lap 3

2 km into lap 2 - Blatter and Alexander attacked early in the lap, on the climb, and passed Redden. As they went into the single track downhill, Blatter attacked and took the lead. Redden was riding very strong through the single track and her gap to the leaders was 15 seconds. Sydor was at 50 seconds, Stopparo at 1 minute, Spitz 1:20, Jimena Florit 1:50. Kiara Bisaro is sitting 12th at 2:35 the Leslie Tomlinson and Trish Sinclair are 15 & 16 at 3:15. Marie-Helene Premont has had a flat and dropped to 30th.br>1 km into lap 3: Blatter and Alexander have opened up the gap to Redden to 25 seconds, then it is Sydor and Stopparo at 1 minute. Spitz at 1:35. Ruthie Matthes has moved into 7th and Dunlap is 9th. Leslie Tomlinson, Kiara Bisaro and Trish Sinclair are 13, 14 and 15.

11:45 - Lap 4

On the climb, Alexander has dropped Blatter and has a gap of 20 seconds. Redden remains 3rd at 50 seconds back, Sydor 4th at 1:40, Stopparo is at 2 minutes and Spitz is 2:50. Marie-Helene Premont is recovering from her flat, and has moved up to 22nd

12:10 - Lap 5

Alexander has increased her gap on Blatter to 45 seconds. Redden is at 1 minute but is closing on Blatter. Sydor is at 2:05, Stopparo 3:30 and Spitz at 4:30. Tomlinson is 11th, Sinclair 14th and Bisaro 16th

12:25 - Last Lap

Alexander is still in the lead, but her lead has dropped substantially. At the end of lap 5, Redden attacked Blatter and now has a 22 second gap on her. Alexander had 30 seconds on Redden at the beginning of the lap but, at the base of the climb, dropped her chain and that gap is just 15 seconds.

Sydor is solidly in 4th at 2:20 back of the leader.

12:30 - Last Lap

With less than a third of a lap to go, Redden has caught Alexander and has an 8 second gap on her.

Tomlinson has moved into the top 10, Sinclair is in 12th, Bisaro is 15th and Marie Helene Premont is now 16th.

The men have started. They will do a 1.5 km start loop then 7 laps ot the 5.2 km course. All of the top men except 1 (Julian Absalon) will race today's World Cup final.

At the half way point of lap 1, Ryder Hesjedal is at the head of a long string of riders..... Roel Paulissen, Lado Fumic, Roland Green, Jose Antonio Hermida, Thomas Frischkneckt, and Miguel Martinez to name the first riders by. Seamus McGrath is 14th, Geoff Kabush 29th, Chris Sheppard 30th and Andreas Hestler 31st.

1:55pm - Lap 2

At the start of lap 2, Ryder Hesjedal is still the pacesetter, followed by Frischkneckt, Green and Hermida. Then a small gap and a group of 6, that has Martinez in it. Cadel Evans has either had a small problem or he missed the break, as he is currently sitting 12th.

2:15 - Lap 3

On the decent (halfway through lap 2, Hesjedal had relenquished the point position to Michael Rasmussen. Behind Hesjedal was a steady line of riders - (11 total are now in the lead group) Lado Fumic, Roland Green, Miguel Martinez, Jose Antonio Hermida and Seamus McGrath and 2 more riders. This group had 30 seconds onn the next closest rider.

On the climb at the start of lap 3, Rasmussen had opened a 15 second gap on Hesjedal, Green, Hermida, Fumic, Frischkneckt and Martinez. 10 seconds back of Martinez is a group of 5 with Mcgrath. Another 40 seconds is a group of 10 with Hestler, Sheppard and Toulouse.

Over the top of the climb, Green has moved into 2nd position, followed by Martinez, Fumic and Hesjedal.

2:35pm - Lap 4

On the climb at the beginning of lap 4, There was a group of 3 (Green, Martinez and Rasmussen) at the front, with a 20 second gap to a group of 6, led by Hesjedal. On the climb Green attacked so that by the top of the climb he has a gap of 6 seconds on Martinez and 20 seconds on Rasmussen.

The chase group is still lead by Hesjedal, but they are now 30 seconds back. Seamus McGrath is in this group as well.

2:55pm - Lap 5

As the leaders started up the climb on lap 5, Green had a 25 second gap on Rasmussen and Martinez and a 1 minute gap on a chase group of 7, led by Hesjedal.

As he went over the top of the climb and enters the technical singletrack, Green has increased his gap to 35 seconds over Rasmussen. Hesjedal has overtaken Martinez in 3rd position. In 5th it is Hochstrasser, 6th McGrath, 7th Hermida. Chris Shepphard has moved into 10th and Andreas Hestler is 15th..

3:25pm - Lap 7

At the halfway point on lap 6, Green had a gap of 1 minute over a group of 6 lead by Hochstrasser which contained Hesjedal, McGrath, Hermida, Rasmussen and Brentjens. Martinez had dropped to 13th.

Lap 7 (Last Lap) - On the climb, about 1 km into the fianl lap, Green still had 1 minute on the chase group, now down to 4 riders and had made no ground on Green. The 4 were being led by Hesjeda, then it was McGrath, Hochstrasser and Hermida. Rasmussen had been dropped, and Brentjens had made no appearance.

At the half way point on the lap, Green has well over a minute, Hesjedal has moved into 2nd, then it is Hochstrasser, Hermida and McGrath.